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Yarilian
Yarilian is an Indo-European language spoken in Yarilia (a Caucasian country). It's the last surviving spoken Indo-European language of the Caucasian branch. Its relatives were languages like Alanian which died out. Writing System Grammar Syntax The syntax of the Yarilian language is VSO : verb-subject-object. Sometimes the subject can be left out if the ending of a verb is already defining who does the action, e.g. Edo pemam. (=I eat an apple; litterally "Eat-I apple" - "eu" meaning I in English can be left out since "Edo" is already precising that the action of eating is done by the first person singular in the present tense thanks to its ending -o), but you have to say, e.g. Eda Peter pemam. (=Peter eats an apple; litterally "Eats Peter apple" - VSO). Nouns The nouns in Yarilian are declined in cases and numbers. The numbers are quite easy since there are only singular and plural. In Yarilian there are eight cases; the ground form of a noun is the nominative case. Yarilian nouns may be masculin (m''), feminine (''f) or neuter (n''). There are no irregular nouns and there are also no nouns which are changing their gender like in French. There are four types of definitiness in Yarilian : # The neutral definitiness ending '-de''' expresses a simple definitiness, e.g. noqta'de' (='''the' night'') # The proximal definitiness ending '-ve' expresses that the noun is near to the speaker, e.g. noqta've' (='''this' night'') # The distal definitiness ending '-ne' expresses that the noun is far from the speaker, e.g. noqta'ne' (='''that' night'') # The equal definitiness ending '-ċe' expresses that the noun is neither near to nor far from the speaker and the spoken one, e.g. noqta'ċe' (='''yonder' night'') Use of the cases # Nominative : is used to express the subject and the attribute of the verbs bi (=to be) and stak (=to become), e.g. Eda Peter pemam. (='''Peter' eats an apple.), ''Eṣt Peter daskel. (=Peter is '''a' teacher.), ''Sta Peter daskel. (=Peter is becoming '''a teacher'.) # Vocative : is used to express an '''exclamation', e.g. Dżano, eṣti bava. (='''Oh woman', you are beautiful.) # Accusative : is used to express the '''direct object' and the motion towards a location, and every preposition is followed by the accusative case, e.g. Eda daskelde pemam. (=The teacher eats '''an apple'.), Ida daskelde 'ṣkolam'. (=The teacher goes to school.), Eṣt dara Peterej ''ḍa daskelemde. (=Peter has a gift for '''the teacher'.) # Dative : is used to express the '''indirect object' and the motion across a location, and the verb "to have" is expressed by the verb bi (=to be) followed by the thing that is possessed in the nominative case and by then by the possessor in the dative case, e.g. Do daram Peterej. (=I give '''Peter' a gift.), Ido '''stradede'. (=I go '''across the road'.), ''Eṣt dino Peterej. (=''Peter has a watermelon. - litteraly : Is watermelon to Peter.; or half-corrected : A watermelon is to Peter.) # Genitive : is used to express the '''possessive object', e.g. Eṣt ṣa mata Peteres. (=She is '''Peter's' mother.) # Ablative : is used to express the '''motion from' a location and the causal object, e.g. Felxo Germanje Amerikam. (=I fly '''from Germany' to America.), Di Peter dżaneve daram '''agape' hej ḍa ṣam. (=Peter gave this woman a gift because of his love for her.) # Instrumental : is used to express the instrumental object and a duration of time, e.g. Ṣerbo plemeṙ. (=I write with a pencil.), Zoro noqteṙde. (=I sleep '''during the night'.) # Locative : is used to express the location, e.g. Sum '''Ameriki'. (=I am '''in America'.) Pronouns ''Personal pronouns : # In Yarilian there aren't possessive pronouns, so they are replaced by the personal pronoun in the genitive case, e.g. mata mej (='''my' mother'') # In Yarilian the reflexive pronoun is defective, since there isn't a genitive case, e.g. Vedo se derkalide. (=I see '''myself' in the miror.), but : Vedo matam '''mej'. (=I see '''my' mother.; even if technically mej/my is reflexive, but there isn't a reflexive genitive pronoun.) ''Interrogative pronouns : The interrogative pronouns can be used as relative pronouns, even if they don't make the difference between gender or number, e.g. Eṣt dżanade qi vedo bava. (=The woman '''whom' I see is beautiful.) Adjectives Adjectives are declined according to the number, gender and case of a noun. They always take the same ending like those of a noun and come before the noun, e.g. bav'e''' dżan'e' (=beautiful women). If an adjective comes before a definite noun, then the definitiness ending has to be added to the adjective and removed from the noun, e.g. bave'de' dżane (='''the' beautiful women''). Comparative : The comparative is formed by adding the suffix '-re' after the ending, e.g. bavade're' dżana (=the '''more' beautiful woman''). The comparison is done by the adjective in the comparative and the compared noun in the ablative case, e.g. Eṣt dżanave bavare dżanene. (=This woman is more beautiful than that woman.) Superlative : The superlative is formed by adding the suffix -hej after the ending, e.g. bavade'hej' dżana (=the '''most' beautiful woman''). The superlative may be increased in its meaning by adding the suffix '-la' to -hej, it has then an exaggerated meaning and is mostly used for poetic purposes, e.g. bavadehej'la' dżana (=the most beautiful woman '''on this earth '/''' I've ever seen'...). Verbs In Yarilian there are many verb tenses and moods and they even differ if their active, passive or causative. Notice that the verb bi (=to be) is iregular and hasn't got a passive or causative voice. To show you the declension system of the regular verbs, I'll take as exemple the verb dak (=to give). Notice also that the verb stem is the verb without the infinitive ending -ak. Indicative : # It's used to describe present events, e.g. Edo pemam. (='''I'm eating' an apple''.) # It's used to describe repetitive events in the present, e.g. Edo pemam seqej zeji. (='''I eat' every day an apple.) # It can be used to describe the '''future', but only for schedules, e.g. Ida avtobusde 14:30 satu. (=The bus '''comes' at 14:30''.) # The present progressive tense can be formed by the auxiliary verb kadar (=to do / =to make) in the present tense and the main verb in the participle present active neuter '(''ending : '-ando), e.g. kado dando (=I'm doing). It's used to emphazise the action in the present, e.g. '''Kado seċando' avtobusemde. (='''I'm waiting' for the bus. - the action of waiting is emphazised'') # It's used to describe a past situation continuing to the present, e.g. Ṣaxasum hem seqad. (='''I've' always guided him.) # It's used to describe a '''present result of a past action', e.g. Falajeṣt. (='''It has rained'. - the result is that the streets are wet; if the imperfect had been used instead of the perfect, it would have the meaning that the streets aren't wet any more'') # It's used to express continuing, long-during actions or events in the past, e.g. Redodaṙ parkide, qad iḍiṣt. (='''I was walking' in the park, when you came.) # It's used to express '''repeated actions in the past', e.g. Redodaṣa patar tej parkide seqej zeji. (=Your father '''used to walk' every day in the park.) # It's used to express '''single', unique and accomplished actions or events in the past, e.g. Redoḍja parkide kiraṣe. (='''I walked' yesterday in the park.) # Make clearly the difference between the imperfect and the aorist of the verb '''bi' (=to be) : the imperfect expresses that the state of being may continue to the present moment and the aorist expresses that the state of being is completely finished, e.g. Beṣa pater tej lekar. (=Your father was a doctor. - '''he's still alive), but : '''Be pater tej lekar. (=Your father was a doctor. - '''he's dead) # Some final consonants of the verb stem follow a lenition in the aorist I (notice the first consonant is the present final consonant and the second is the aorist I final consonant with lenition) : b -- v; c -- s; d -- ḍ; f -- v; g -- ż; k -- h; p -- b; q -- k; s -- z; t -- d; x -- h; ċ -- c; ṣ -- s; ż -- z. That's why '''dak (=to give) in the aorist I is ḍ'''ja and not dja. # It expresses the same temporal aspect as the aorist I, but the difference is that the '''aorist I is vernacular and the aorist II is used for literal and poetic purposes. The aorist I is more regular than the aorist II, since the aorist I takes the infinitive stem followed by lenition and the aorist II takes the irregular perfect stem, which isn't used any more in the spoken language. That's why dak (=to give) in the aorist II is ded'''a. So you'll '''say : Redoḍja parkide kiraṣe. (=I walked yesterday in the park. - '''aorist I), you'll write in '''informal purposes (letter, scientific report, sms...) : Redoḍja parkide kiraṣe. (=I walked yesterday in the park. - '''aorist I), but you'll write in '''formal purposes (law, novell, roman, poem...) : Redhoda parkide kiraṣe. (=I walked yesterday in the park. - '''aorist II). # It's used to express '''continuing, long-during actions or events in the past occuring before other past actions or events, e.g. Ajtes beṣa pater tej lekar, matenabeṣa '''medecinam univerziteti. (=Before your father was a doctor, '''he had been studying medecines at university.) Lexicon Example text